Former Ambassador Johnson To Address American Foreign Policy

Former Ambassador Mark Johnson will address the Montana World Affairs Council this Thursday at the Holiday Inn Downtown, addressing current American foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

The address is entitled ‘American Foreign Policy at an Uncertain Time’, Chaos or Continuity’. In a preview to that address, Johnson said Trump seems to be changing his focus to domestic issues, rather than addressing foreign policy.

“He talked a lot while he was in China last week that the U.S. is overextended, that we have to come back home and deal with the problems here,” Johnson said. “Curiously, in that regard, he’s not that different from President Obama in his latter months, no even from someone like Richard Nixon who said the same thing basically some 30 years ago.”

Johnson is advising President Trump to focus on China and Russia.

“I would say right now, if I had to put my finger on it, what will trouble him the most is the rise of China and the rise of Russia,” he said. “China has just crowned its new emperor in Li Keqiang, and Moscow now has a new 21st century czar named Vladimir Putin.”

Like a realtor who says the emphasis is ‘location, location, location, Johnson’s advice to President is also one word.

“If you were to ask me about the top three things, they would be engagement, engagement, engagement,” said Johnson. “We need to be dealing with the world. The President’s trip was a useful step in that direction. Asia’s going to be a very pivotal region, and I think that we as Americans need to understand much better what’s at stake and why it matters to us.”

The address will be Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn. Admission will be five dollars for members of the Montana World Affairs Council and eight dollars for non-members.